Grantham woman with rare condition talks about life-saving surgery
- Published
Mrs Connor says she has a "new lease of life" after undergoing surgery in July
A woman with a rare genetic disorder says she has "a new lease of life" after undergoing a life-saving heart operation.
Verity Connor, 34, from Grantham, has Turner Syndrome, which affects about one in every 2,000 baby girls.
It can cause stunted growth and fertility problems, and in Mrs Connor's case meant her aorta - the body's main artery - could rupture at any time.
Her story was featured as part of a BBC series - Surgeons: At the Edge of Life.
"I was diagnosed with Turner Syndrome when I was five-years-old," she said.
"It is an inherited condition and means that you only have one normal X sex chromosome rather than the usual two.
"As a result, my aorta became enlarged and was in danger of fatally rupturing," she said.
The operation was carried out by a team at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge - led by Mr Ravi de Silva
Mrs Connor, who works as a receptionist, featured in the first episode of the BBC documentary Surgeons: At the Edge of Life, broadcast on 11 November.
In the episode, surgeon Mr Ravi de Silva said the risk of her aorta rupturing was "very clear and obvious".
"If it isn't fixed then the end result is death - 100%," he said.
The documentary follows the surgery to replace part of her aorta with a synthetic section. At the same time, Mr de Silva looks to save her aortic valve rather than put in a mechanical one - to reduce the risk of infection.
Praising the medical team who carried out the operation at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in July, Mrs Connor told BBC Look North she was now able "to live life without worry again".
"Before the operation I hadn't been able to exercise very much because they were concerned about my aorta rupturing.
"I had to be really careful," she said.
"Now I can exercise - I've lost weight since the operation [and] there are so many things I'm on the way to being able to do now that I couldn't before.
"It does feel like a new lease of life," she added.
Read more about the female-only genetic disorder, external on the NHS website.
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